GRAEME SWANN will be delighted with another James Anderson “benefit” as England hope for an action-replay victory over Pakistan in the second npower Test at Edgbaston.

Swann, England’s cricketer of the year and such a rich source of wickets in all conditions over the past year, was required to bowl just two overs at Trent Bridge, where Anderson took a career-best 11 for 71 to help bowl the hapless tourists out twice.

After a short trip across the midlands, more swing-friendly cloud cover features prominently in an uncertain forecast this week, and apart from a couple of wickets for himself, Swann’s wishlist is broadly a repeat of the 354-run win in Nottingham.

Anderson’s devastating bowling in Nottingham did not surprise Swann in the least, given the conditions which prevailed and the skills he has to exploit them.

“Jimmy was exceptional, but I kind of expected him to be because I knew it was going to swing at Trent Bridge and I knew he was in good nick,” Swann said. “It was almost inevitable that he would bowl as well as he did. He loves that place.”

There was no shock either for Swann that captain Andrew Strauss used him so sparingly on his home ground. He added: “Actually, it’s not that strange for me to stand at Trent Bridge and not do much bowling because I do that for Notts a lot of the time. It was kind of novel, but kind of nice. I said to Straussy on the last morning ’In an ideal world I won’t even have to get warmed up today because that means we are taking wickets’. And so it was.